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Grain power

Ernie Whalley

February 7 2016, 12:01am, The Sunday Times

Since I started disclosing to friends that I have “swopped wine for beer” I’ve been amazed by the amount of interest shown and questions asked. The most common recurring themes are along the lines of “Does craft beer really taste better than (let’s call it) ‘Big Beer’?” and “I know nothing about craft beer but I’d like to learn to appreciate it. What’s the easiest way to go about it?” Simple answer to the first query is “No it doesn’t. Craft beer does not intrinsically taste ‘better’ than the product churned out by the giants of the industry. It does taste ‘different’ .

The big lads are bounded by a number of constraints, which craft brewers have been able to sidestep. The first is branding.…